Snapchat paid ousted Apple exec Scott Forstall 0.11% to be advisor, according to leaked email
A leaked email from last year's Sony Pictures data breach that surfaced Thursday reveals Snapchat granted former iOS chief Scott Forstall 0.11 percent of its stock in fully-diluted shares in return for being a special company advisor.
The information was discovered by TechCrunch amidst a mass of leaked Sony emails WikiLeaks recently posted to its website.
Sent by Snapchat legal director Steve Hwang, the email in question details grant options approved by the firm's board of directors in February of 2014. Forstall's name was among the names cited.
According to the document, Forstall was granted 50,000 shares worth a fully-diluted 0.11 percent for being an advisor, a seemingly exorbitant amount considering a number of software engineers were granted 0.022 percent. By comparison, the publication notes former Google executive Peter Magnusson, who took on the role of VP of engineering at Snapchat but left after six months on the job, was scheduled a grant of 0.5 percent.
Forstall's options were slated to vest in 24 months, which means his portion could be worth $16.5 million based on Snapchat's recent funding round reportedly led by Alibaba that put the company at a $15 billion valuation.
It is unclear what role Forstall played in Snapchat's rise to success, but the ephemeral picture and video sharing app and service has grown rapidly since its inception in 2011.
Today's report lines up nicely with rumors from late 2013 that claimed Forstall was advising various startups and focusing on philanthropic projects.
Forstall was ousted from Apple in 2012 following the botched Apple Maps launch. At the time, sources said Forstall refused to sign a public apology delivered by CEO Tim Cook.
The information was discovered by TechCrunch amidst a mass of leaked Sony emails WikiLeaks recently posted to its website.
Sent by Snapchat legal director Steve Hwang, the email in question details grant options approved by the firm's board of directors in February of 2014. Forstall's name was among the names cited.
According to the document, Forstall was granted 50,000 shares worth a fully-diluted 0.11 percent for being an advisor, a seemingly exorbitant amount considering a number of software engineers were granted 0.022 percent. By comparison, the publication notes former Google executive Peter Magnusson, who took on the role of VP of engineering at Snapchat but left after six months on the job, was scheduled a grant of 0.5 percent.
Forstall's options were slated to vest in 24 months, which means his portion could be worth $16.5 million based on Snapchat's recent funding round reportedly led by Alibaba that put the company at a $15 billion valuation.
It is unclear what role Forstall played in Snapchat's rise to success, but the ephemeral picture and video sharing app and service has grown rapidly since its inception in 2011.
Today's report lines up nicely with rumors from late 2013 that claimed Forstall was advising various startups and focusing on philanthropic projects.
Forstall was ousted from Apple in 2012 following the botched Apple Maps launch. At the time, sources said Forstall refused to sign a public apology delivered by CEO Tim Cook.
Comments
I don't miss his UI designs though.
I don't miss his UI designs though.
Agreed. I think they went about as far as they could with skewmorphic designs
Whoever got rid of arrows in scroll bars in OS X - I don't miss that person.
Whoever decided that the UI for OS X should be as similar as possible to iOS, that person should be forever required to us OS X with only a touch screen.
I do. while the new iOS scales better on varying screens, it's pretty bland and lacking in the warm character that turned even senior citizens into smart phone users, with ease. I'm sure he would have introduced more resolution independent designs too (cleared destined for for iPhone 6 use) and we would have been happy with them too.
Forstall was ousted from Apple in 2012 following the botched Apple Maps launch. At the time, sources said Forstall refused to sign a public apology delivered by CEO Tim Cook.
To me it always looked like he was thrown under the bus on the Maps debacle.
It's been three years since Forstall was dismissed and they still have one of the worst, if not the worst, mapping app on the Internet. Unusable in my opinion.
works fine here. I haven't used garmin USA or google maps barely at all since it came out.
works fine here. I haven't used garmin USA or google maps barely at all since it came out.
Honestly, I don't know how anyone can say that. It is the most horrible and inadequate excuse for a mapping app I have ever seen. Granted, it works a little better in the US than elsewhere in the world, but still terrible.
Try this:
Search for "Terminal de Buses David Panama"
Then try it with Google Maps.
Please. Unusable, really? I get around everyday using it.
Oh I see. We are supposed to trust you, somebody who clearly doesn't use it. At least Apple's map app doesn't tell me to take a turn after I passed the exit. Try using Google's maps in China.
Oh I see. We are supposed to trust you, somebody who clearly doesn't use it. At least Apple's map app doesn't tell me to take a turn after I passed the exit. Try using Google's maps in China.
All maps have issues staying up to date and correcting errors. I have found Google to be pretty good. Apple maps is so far off where I live that it shows me driving in a river bed 100 m off the road I am actually on. Google initially had a lot of street names incorrect in my neighborhood and I submitted corrections which were done in about two months.
I really miss Forestall.
I don't ... and am happy that my devices no longer look like mocked up ridiculous leather binders and goofy digital shredders.
I do. while the new iOS scales better on varying screens, it's pretty bland and lacking in the warm character that turned even senior citizens into smart phone users, with ease. I'm sure he would have introduced more resolution independent designs too (cleared destined for for iPhone 6 use) and we would have been happy with them too.
Yeah, I miss him too, somewhat. While I like the direction of Apple UI now it's certainly not intuitive in some places. But in the end it's the guy's fault anyway since he was never a team player, something that Tim Cook values.
Maps has been flawless for me. I use it constantly when driving. I don't use GoogleMaps at all on my iPhone, and rarely on my desktop.
Don't you live in Panama?
Don't you live in Panama?
Yes, that is my native country, although half the year I live in California. Even in California I find Apple Maps woefully inferior to Google Maps in finding stores and POI. If you have an exact address and zip, Apple maps seems pretty good. Where it fails is in the fuzzy logic. In Panama it is just simply lack of data. Also the streets are just approximate and usually way off and the smaller streets non-existant. Google is very through and accurate in my experience.
On a side note Open Street Maps is a complete joke. I put in our farm and hotel and then a week later it is removed, presumably by a competing organization, probably even a supposed friend.
Whoever got rid of arrows in scroll bars in OS X - I don't miss that person.
Why not simply turn the scroll bars back on?
System prefs > General.
Search for "Terminal de Buses David Panama"
How many years had Google Maps existed before your corrections were incorporated?
I must respectfully disagree: I live and work in the US, and like an earlier poster, I use Maps daily. It has *never* been wrong in my travels. The program itself strikes me as stable and well-integrated.
It is great for my needs, and I would be saddened to lose it.
[edited to reduce snark]
Excuse me.
Binary opinions only please!
Your helpful and informative solutions are not appreciated here.
????
How many years had Google Maps existed before your corrections were incorporated?
That is an excellent question because in my area of Panama there were never any official street names until Google maps became ubiquitous. Prior to that we would say something like "at an angle across from the fire station south 100 m near the corner of school road, the building with the blue roof'. That was the official address for the gas company to replenish our propane. Now we are forced to comply with logical addresses and street names. My particular street name is a throwback to the 60s referencing a church that no longer exists and a passage that was blocked by a landslide 20 years ago. I think the US is the same in that regard just a 100 years or so ahead.
When I was in Connecticut, I lived on Long Ridge Road which according to legend, the farmers would take their buggy into town at night and get drunk. The bar tender or patrons would toss him onto the buggy and slap the horse which would make its way home unguided, which is why the current road is so curvy. It was designed by horses.